1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a component arranging and delivering apparatus for arranging, in one direction, a component having a deformed section and a dispersion directivity and sequentially delivering the component to a next step, and more particularly to a component arranging and delivering apparatus capable of efficiently delivering a very small number of components to be delivered.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, conventionally, in a product constituted by a plurality of components such as a slide fastener, each component to be assembled in order of assembly is sequentially delivered to an assembling portion in the same attitude and is thus assembled into a predetermined portion. For the delivery, there are generally used a bowl type delivery apparatus disclosed in JP-A-6-64736 and a horizontal drum type delivery apparatus disclosed in JP-A-9-156751, for example.
The bowl type delivery apparatus disclosed in the JP-A-6-64736 comprises a bottomed vibrating bowl having a spiral component delivery path along an internal wall surface and a plate-shaped chute for coupling a component assembling portion at a next step and an outlet of the component delivery path in a bowl. In the component delivery to be carried out by the bowl type delivery apparatus, a component dispersed over the bottom surface of a vibrating bowl is collected into the internal wall surface, is picked up into the spiral component delivery path and is transferred toward the outlet along the delivery path. At this time, the component turned in a different direction from a predetermined directivity gets out of the delivery path and falls down again into the bottom portion of the bowl in the middle.
The horizontal drum type delivery apparatus disclosed in the JP-A-9-156751 comprises a bottomed drum which has an opening side lifted slightly and is rotated and supported around an inclined axis, and a thin plate-shaped chute which is inclined slightly downward from the inside of the drum, is extended toward the outside of the drum and is vibrated in a longitudinal direction. A plurality of blade plates which are parallel with the axis at a predetermined phase angle are extended over the internal wall surface of the bottomed drum in radial and axial directions. A large number of components accumulated in the bottomed drum are once scooped up by the blade plates with the rotation of the drum. When the blade plates are rotated upward in the drum, the components are slid and dropped from the blade plates and are caught on and received by the upper edge of the chute.
Thereafter, the components are delivered to the outside of the drum by the vibration of the thin plate-shaped chute. In this case, when a direction in which the components put on the chute are supported is not set to be a predetermined direction, the components are detected by first and second optical abnormal attitude component detecting means and are removed from the thin plate-shaped chute mechanically or through an injected fluid.
In the bowl type delivery apparatus disclosed in the JP-A-6-64736, the delivery of the component depends on a vibration in a circumferential direction of a bowl. For this reason, the component is smoothly moved to the spiral delivery path with difficulty and cannot easily be advanced smoothly along the delivery path, and there is a limit to increase a component delivery speed. In addition, it is not guaranteed that a transition from the spiral delivery path to the plate-shaped chute can be carried out reliably.
On the other hand, also in the horizontal drum type delivery apparatus disclosed in the JP-A-9-156751, the delivery speed of a component depends on the rotation of a bottomed drum. Therefore, the delivery speed of the component can be increased theoretically. However, the component is often dropped out in the middle of the transportation of the plate-shaped chute depending on a shape thereof. In addition, when the rotating speed of the drum is more increased, the drop track of the component becomes less uniform and the component cannot reliably be put on the chute. Thus, it is impossible to further enhance a productivity.
Furthermore, a recent small lot production has become extreme. For example, in the assembly of a slide fastener, there are a large number of types of sliders. For this reason, when the same kind of sliders are to be assembled, a production is often required on a several to several ten unit in place of a several ten to several hundred unit.
The conventional component delivery apparatuses are designed to aim at a mass delivery in order to efficiently assemble the same kind of components in large quantities and the number of the components to be delivered is large in consideration of the ratio of the component dropped from the chute. Thus, the component delivery apparatuses are suitable for a mass production. If a small number of, for example, approximately several to ten-odd components are to be delivered by using these component delivery apparatuses, the number of the components input into the component delivery apparatuses is also limited, the number of the components delivered over the chute with a predetermined directivity is further decreased, the dropped components are not guaranteed to be delivered again to the outlet of the chute with a predetermined directivity, and a component delivery interval is increased. Thus, the delivery cannot be executed at all in respect of a productivity.
Under the circumstances, for example, in the case in which several components are to be assembled, a manual assembly is often carried out, resulting in a sharp rise in the price of a product. In particular, if several components are to be assembled, the working burden of an operator is not greatly imposed. If the number of the components is approximately twenty to thirty, the burden of the operator is increased, and furthermore, it is hard to end the assembly in a short time.